OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Learning to Win by Reading Manuals in a Monte-Carlo Framework
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2014
Year: 2014

Domain knowledge is crucial for effective performance in autonomous control systems. Typically, human effort is required to encode this knowledge into a control algorithm. In this paper, we present an approach to language grounding which automatically interprets text in the context of a complex control application, such as a game, and uses domain knowledge extracted from the text to improve control performance. Both text analysis and control strategies are learned jointly using only a feedback signal inherent to the application. To effectively leverage textual information, our method automatically extracts the text segment most relevant to the current game state, and labels it with a task-centric predicate structure. This labeled text is then used to bias an action selection policy for the game, guiding it towards promising regions of the action space. We encode our model for text analysis and game playing in a multi-layer neural network, representing linguistic decisions via latent variables in the hidden layers, and game action quality via the output layer. Operating within the Monte-Carlo Search framework, we estimate model parameters using feedback from simulated games. We apply our approach to the complex strategy game Civilization II using the official game manual as the text guide. Our results show that a linguistically-informed game-playing agent significantly outperforms its language-unaware counterpart, yielding a 34% absolute improvement and winning over 65% of games when playing against the built-in AI of Civilization.
Determinising Parity Automata
Venue: arXiv cs.FL 2014
Year: 2014

Parity word automata and their determinisation play an important role in automata and game theory. We discuss a determinisation procedure for nondeterministic parity automata through deterministic Rabin to deterministic parity automata. We prove that the intermediate determinisation to Rabin automata is optimal. We show that the resulting determinisation to parity automata is optimal up to a small constant. Moreover, the lower bound refers to the more liberal Streett acceptance. We thus show that determinisation to Streett would not lead to better bounds than determinisation to parity. As a side-result, this optimality extends to the determinisation of Büchi automata.
SoaDssPm: A new Service-Oriented Architecture of the decision support system for the Project Management
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2014
Year: 2014

This paper presents an architecture for the Project Management, which is defined using the concepts behind ServiceOriented and Decision Support System. The framework described, denominated as SoaDssPm, represents the following: a coherent solution to the problem of control Project Management the existing gap between the real execution of Project Management by describing the business process and relationships required by a SOA solution, and its objectives representation, in which the decisional aspects determine the final shape of the system, providing decision support to the identified business processes and constraints.
Intelligent Product: Mobile Agent Architecture Integrating the End of Life Cycle (EOL) For minimizing the lunch phase PLM
Venue: arXiv cs.OH 2014
Year: 2014

To improve the increasingly demands products that are customized, all business activities performed along the product life cycle must be coordinated and efficiently managed along the extended enterprise. For this, enterprise had wanted to retain control over the whole product lifecycle especially when the product is in use/recycling (End Of Life phase). Although there have been many previous research works about product lifecycle management in the beginning of life (BOL) and middle of life (MOL) phases, few addressed the end of life (EOL) phase, in particular, when the product is at the customers. In this paper, based on product embedded device identification (PEID) and mobile agent technologies, and with the advent of the development of the "intelligent products", we will try to improve innovation: (a) by minimize the lunch phase, (b) and the involvement of the customer in product lifecycle.
Formalization and Verification of Hierarchical Use of Interaction Overview Diagrams Using Timing Diagrams
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2014
Year: 2014

Thanks to its graphical notation and simplicity, Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a de facto standard and a widespread language used in both industry and academia, despite the fact that its semantics is still informal. The Interaction Overview Diagram (IOD) is introduced in UML2; it allows the specification of the behavior in the hierarchical way. This paper is a contribution towards a formal dynamic semantics of UML2. We start by formalizing the Hierarchical use of IOD. Afterward, we complete the mapping of IOD, Sequence Diagrams and Timing Diagrams into Hierarchical Colored Petri Nets (HCPNs) using the Timed colored Petri Nets (timed CP-net). Our approach helps designers to get benefits from abstraction as well as refinement at more than two levels of hierarchy which reduces verification complexity.
Enhancing Template Security of Face Biometrics by Using Edge Detection and Hashing
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2014
Year: 2014

In this paper we address the issues of using edge detection techniques on facial images to produce cancellable biometric templates and a novel method for template verification against tampering. With increasing use of biometrics, there is a real threat for the conventional systems using face databases, which store images of users in raw and unaltered form. If compromised not only it is irrevocable, but can be misused for cross-matching across different databases. So it is desirable to generate and store revocable templates for the same user in different applications to prevent cross-matching and to enhance security, while maintaining privacy and ethics. By comparing different edge detection methods it has been observed that the edge detection based on the Roberts Cross operator performs consistently well across multiple face datasets, in which the face images have been taken under a variety of conditions. We have proposed a novel scheme using hashing, for extra verification, in order to harden the security of the stored biometric templates.
Text Relatedness Based on a Word Thesaurus
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2014
Year: 2014

The computation of relatedness between two fragments of text in an automated manner requires taking into account a wide range of factors pertaining to the meaning the two fragments convey, and the pairwise relations between their words. Without doubt, a measure of relatedness between text segments must take into account both the lexical and the semantic relatedness between words. Such a measure that captures well both aspects of text relatedness may help in many tasks, such as text retrieval, classification and clustering. In this paper we present a new approach for measuring the semantic relatedness between words based on their implicit semantic links. The approach exploits only a word thesaurus in order to devise implicit semantic links between words. Based on this approach, we introduce Omiotis, a new measure of semantic relatedness between texts which capitalizes on the word-to-word semantic relatedness measure (SR) and extends it to measure the relatedness between texts. We gradually validate our method: we first evaluate the performance of the semantic relatedness measure between individual words, covering word-to-word similarity and relatedness, synonym identification and word analogy; then, we proceed with evaluating the performance of our method in measuring text-to-text semantic relatedness in two tasks, namely sentence-to-sentence similarity and paraphrase recognition. Experimental evaluation shows that the proposed method outperforms every lexicon-based method of semantic relatedness in the selected tasks and the used data sets, and competes well against corpus-based and hybrid approaches.
Reconfiguration of Dominating Sets
Venue: arXiv cs.DM 2014
Year: 2014

We explore a reconfiguration version of the dominating set problem, where a dominating set in a graph $G$ is a set $S$ of vertices such that each vertex is either in $S$ or has a neighbour in $S$. In a reconfiguration problem, the goal is to determine whether there exists a sequence of feasible solutions connecting given feasible solutions $s$ and $t$ such that each pair of consecutive solutions is adjacent according to a specified adjacency relation. Two dominating sets are adjacent if one can be formed from the other by the addition or deletion of a single vertex. For various values of $k$, we consider properties of $D_k(G)$, the graph consisting of a vertex for each dominating set of size at most $k$ and edges specified by the adjacency relation. Addressing an open question posed by Haas and Seyffarth, we demonstrate that $D_{Γ(G)+1}(G)$ is not necessarily connected, for $Γ(G)$ the maximum cardinality of a minimal dominating set in $G$. The result holds even when graphs are constrained to be planar, of bounded tree-width, or $b$-partite for $b \ge 3$. Moreover, we construct an infinite family of graphs such that $D_{γ(G)+1}(G)$ has exponential diameter, for $γ(G)$ the minimum size of a dominating set. On the positive side, we show that $D_{n-m}(G)$ is connected and of linear diameter for any graph $G$ on $n$ vertices having at least $m+1$ independent edges.
On Randomly Projected Hierarchical Clustering with Guarantees
Venue: arXiv cs.IR 2014
Year: 2014

Hierarchical clustering (HC) algorithms are generally limited to small data instances due to their runtime costs. Here we mitigate this shortcoming and explore fast HC algorithms based on random projections for single (SLC) and average (ALC) linkage clustering as well as for the minimum spanning tree problem (MST). We present a thorough adaptive analysis of our algorithms that improve prior work from $O(N^2)$ by up to a factor of $N/(\log N)^2$ for a dataset of $N$ points in Euclidean space. The algorithms maintain, with arbitrary high probability, the outcome of hierarchical clustering as well as the worst-case running-time guarantees. We also present parameter-free instances of our algorithms.
A Market-Inspired Approach for Intersection Management in Urban Road Traffic Networks
Venue: arXiv cs.GT 2014
Year: 2014

Traffic congestion in urban road networks is a costly problem that affects all major cities in developed countries. To tackle this problem, it is possible (i) to act on the supply side, increasing the number of roads or lanes in a network, (ii) to reduce the demand, restricting the access to urban areas at specific hours or to specific vehicles, or (iii) to improve the efficiency of the existing network, by means of a widespread use of so-called Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). In line with the recent advances in smart transportation management infrastructures, ITS has turned out to be a promising field of application for artificial intelligence techniques. In particular, multiagent systems seem to be the ideal candidates for the design and implementation of ITS. In fact, drivers can be naturally modelled as autonomous agents that interact with the transportation management infrastructure, thereby generating a large-scale, open, agent-based system. To regulate such a system and maintain a smooth and efficient flow of traffic, decentralised mechanisms for the management of the transportation infrastructure are needed. In this article we propose a distributed, market-inspired, mechanism for the management of a future urban road network, where intelligent autonomous vehicles, operated by software agents on behalf of their human owners, interact with the infrastructure in order to travel safely and efficiently through the road network. Building on the reservation-based intersection control model proposed by Dresner and Stone, we consider two different scenarios: one with a single intersection and one with a network of intersections. In the former, we analyse the performance of a novel policy based on combinatorial auctions for the allocation of reservations. In the latter, we analyse the impact that a traffic assignment strategy inspired by competitive markets has on the drivers route choices. Finally we propose an adaptive management mechanism that integrates the auction-based traffic control policy with the competitive traffic assignment strategy.
COLIN: Planning with Continuous Linear Numeric Change
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2014
Year: 2014

In this paper we describe COLIN, a forward-chaining heuristic search planner, capable of reasoning with COntinuous LINear numeric change, in addition to the full temporal semantics of PDDL. Through this work we make two advances to the state-of-the-art in terms of expressive reasoning capabilities of planners: the handling of continuous linear change, and the handling of duration-dependent effects in combination with duration inequalities, both of which require tightly coupled temporal and numeric reasoning during planning. COLIN combines FF-style forward chaining search, with the use of a Linear Program (LP) to check the consistency of the interacting temporal and numeric constraints at each state. The LP is used to compute bounds on the values of variables in each state, reducing the range of actions that need to be considered for application. In addition, we develop an extension of the Temporal Relaxed Planning Graph heuristic of CRIKEY3, to support reasoning directly with continuous change. We extend the range of task variables considered to be suitable candidates for specifying the gradient of the continuous numeric change effected by an action. Finally, we explore the potential for employing mixed integer programming as a tool for optimising the timestamps of the actions in the plan, once a solution has been found. To support this, we further contribute a selection of extended benchmark domains that include continuous numeric effects. We present results for COLIN that demonstrate its scalability on a range of benchmarks, and compare to existing state-of-the-art planners.
Serefind: A Social Networking Website for Classifieds
Venue: arXiv cs.SI 2014
Year: 2014

This paper presents the design and implementation of a social networking website for classifieds, called Serefind. We designed search interfaces with focus on security, privacy, usability, design, ranking, and communications. We deployed this site at the Johns Hopkins University, and the results show it can be used as a self-sustaining classifieds site for public or private communities.
The Effective Solving of the Tasks from NP by a Quantum Computer
Venue: arXiv cs.CC 2014
Year: 2014

The new model of quantum computation is proposed, for which an effective algorithm of solving any task in NP is described. The work is based and inspired be the Grover's algorithm for solving NP-tasks with quadratic speedup compared to the classical computation model. The provided model and algorithm exhibit the exponential speedup over that described by Grover.
On Stochastic Geometry Modeling of Cellular Uplink Transmission with Truncated Channel Inversion Power Control
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2014
Year: 2014

Using stochastic geometry, we develop a tractable uplink modeling paradigm for outage probability and spectral efficiency in both single and multi-tier cellular wireless networks. The analysis accounts for per user equipment (UE) power control as well as the maximum power limitations for UEs. More specifically, for interference mitigation and robust uplink communication, each UE is required to control its transmit power such that the average received signal power at its serving base station (BS) is equal to a certain threshold $ρ_o$. Due to the limited transmit power, the UEs employ a truncated channel inversion power control policy with a cutoff threshold of $ρ_o$. We show that there exists a transfer point in the uplink system performance that depends on the tuple: BS intensity ($λ$), maximum transmit power of UEs ($P_u$), and $ρ_o$. That is, when $P_u$ is a tight operational constraint with respect to [w.r.t.] $λ$ and $ρ_o$, the uplink outage probability and spectral efficiency highly depend on the values of $λ$ and $ρ_o$. In this case, there exists an optimal cutoff threshold $ρ^*_o$, which depends on the system parameters, that minimizes the outage probability. On the other hand, when $P_u$ is not a binding operational constraint w.r.t. $λ$ and $ρ_o$, the uplink outage probability and spectral efficiency become independent of $λ$ and $ρ_o$. We obtain approximate yet accurate simple expressions for outage probability and spectral efficiency which reduce to closed-forms in some special cases.
Fools gold? Developer dilemmas in a closed mobile application market platform
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2014
Year: 2014

In this paper, we outline some potential conflicts that platform owners and software developers face in mobile application markets. Our arguments are based on comments captured in specialized online discussion forums, in which developers gather to share knowledge and experiences. The key findings indicate conflicts of interests, including 1) intra-platform competition, 2) discriminative promotion, 3) entry prevention, 4) restricted monetization, 5) restricted knowledge sharing, 6) substitution, and 7) strategic technology selection. Opportunistic platform owners may use their power to discriminate between third-part software developers. However, there are also potential strategic solutions that developers can apply; for example diversification (multi-homing), syndication and brand building.
Preconditioning in Expectation
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2014
Year: 2014

We show that preconditioners constructed by random sampling can perform well without meeting the standard requirements of iterative methods. When applied to graph Laplacians, this leads to ultra-sparsifiers that in expectation behave as the nearly-optimal ones given by [Kolla-Makarychev-Saberi-Teng STOC`10]. Combining this with the recursive preconditioning framework by [Spielman-Teng STOC`04] and improved embedding algorithms, this leads to algorithms that solve symmetric diagonally dominant linear systems and electrical flow problems in expected time close to $m\log^{1/2}n$ .
Design of a High Speed XAUI Based on Dynamic Reconfigurable Transceiver IP Core
Venue: arXiv cs.AR 2014
Year: 2014

By using the dynamic reconfigurable transceiver in high speed interface design, designer can solve critical technology problems such as ensuring signal integrity conveniently, with lower error binary rate. In this paper, we designed a high speed XAUI (10Gbps Ethernet Attachment Unit Interface) to transparently extend the physical reach of the XGMII. The following points are focused: (1) IP (Intellectual Property) core usage. Altera Co. offers two transceiver IP cores in Quartus II MegaWizard Plug-In Manager for XAUI design which is featured of dynamic reconfiguration performance, that is, ALTGX_RECO?FIG instance and ALTGX instance, we can get various groups by changing settings of the devices without power off. These two blocks can accomplish function of PCS (Physical Coding Sub-layer) and PMA (Physical Medium Attachment), however, with higher efficiency and reliability. (2) 1+1 protection. In our design, two ALTGX IP cores are used to work in parallel, which named XAUI0 and XAUI1. The former works as the main channel while the latter redundant channel. When XAUI0 is out of service for some reasons, XAUI1 will start to work to keep the business. (3) RTL (Register Transfer Level) coding with Verilog HDL and simulation. Create the ALTGX_RECO?FIG instance and ALTGX instance, enable dynamic reconfiguration in the ALTGXB Megafunction, then connect the ALTGX_RECO?FIG with the ALTGX instances. After RTL coding, the design was simulated on VCS simulator. The validated result indicates that the packets are transferred efficiently. FPGA makes high-speed optical communication system design simplified.
Steady-state performance of non-negative least-mean-square algorithm and its variants
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2014
Year: 2014

Non-negative least-mean-square (NNLMS) algorithm and its variants have been proposed for online estimation under non-negativity constraints. The transient behavior of the NNLMS, Normalized NNLMS, Exponential NNLMS and Sign-Sign NNLMS algorithms have been studied in our previous work. In this technical report, we derive closed-form expressions for the steady-state excess mean-square error (EMSE) for the four algorithms. Simulations results illustrate the accuracy of the theoretical results. This is a complementary material to our previous work.
Post-Westgate SWAT : C4ISTAR Architectural Framework for Autonomous Network Integrated Multifaceted Warfighting Solutions Version 1.0 : A Peer-Reviewed Monograph
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2014
Year: 2014

Police SWAT teams and Military Special Forces face mounting pressure and challenges from adversaries that can only be resolved by way of ever more sophisticated inputs into tactical operations. Lethal Autonomy provides constrained military/security forces with a viable option, but only if implementation has got proper empirically supported foundations. Autonomous weapon systems can be designed and developed to conduct ground, air and naval operations. This monograph offers some insights into the challenges of developing legal, reliable and ethical forms of autonomous weapons, that address the gap between Police or Law Enforcement and Military operations that is growing exponentially small. National adversaries are today in many instances hybrid threats, that manifest criminal and military traits, these often require deployment of hybrid-capability autonomous weapons imbued with the capability to taken on both Military and/or Security objectives. The Westgate Terrorist Attack of 21st September 2013 in the Westlands suburb of Nairobi, Kenya is a very clear manifestation of the hybrid combat scenario that required military response and police investigations against a fighting cell of the Somalia based globally networked Al Shabaab terrorist group.
Compressing Sets and Multisets of Sequences
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2014
Year: 2014

This article describes lossless compression algorithms for multisets of sequences, taking advantage of the multiset's unordered structure. Multisets are a generalisation of sets where members are allowed to occur multiple times. A multiset can be encoded naïvely by simply storing its elements in some sequential order, but then information is wasted on the ordering. We propose a technique that transforms the multiset into an order-invariant tree representation, and derive an arithmetic code that optimally compresses the tree. Our method achieves compression even if the sequences in the multiset are individually incompressible (such as cryptographic hash sums). The algorithm is demonstrated practically by compressing collections of SHA-1 hash sums, and multisets of arbitrary, individually encodable objects.